Can I Lose Weight on a Carnivore Diet? How Much? How Fast? (2024)

How to Lose Weight on a Carnivore Diet?

Although calorie control is an essential factor in weight management, hormones also play important roles in controlling weight.

Hormones ghrelin (stimulates hunger) and leptin (promotes satiety) regulate appetite. Imbalances can lead to overeating and weight gain [3] [4].

Also, sex hormones testosterone and estrogen imbalances affect weight, especially in conditions like PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) or menopause.

Insulin is another hormone that causes weight imbalances by creating spikes in blood sugar levels. Another important hormone causing weight gain is cortisol, the stress hormone.

We can control these hormones using the following strategies to achieve our health and fitness goals.

Eating Real, Unprocessed Food

Always choose whole foods over processed ones. Whole foods are more nutrient-dense and less calorie-dense, helping to improve satiety and reduce overall calorie intake. Processed foods often contain additives and sugars that can lead to overeating and weight gain [5].

Avoiding Unnecessary Snacking

Trust natural hunger and satiety cues to prevent overeating. Snacking, especially on processed or high-calorie foods, can lead to excess calorie intake. By eating only when truly hungry, you allow your body to naturally regulate food intake, preventing unnecessary calorie consumption [6].

Managing Stress and Prioritize Sleep

High cortisol (stress hormone) levels due to chronic stress and lack of sleep can lead to increased appetite and fat storage, especially around the abdomen. Reducing stress and improving sleep can lower cortisol levels, helping weight control [7] [8].

Avoiding Fruits and Beer

Fruits and beer contain sugars and carbohydrates that can impede fat burning and lead to weight gain. Avoiding these can help maintain low insulin levels, promoting fat loss [9].

Intermittent Fasting

Fasting helps reduce calorie intake and can improve insulin sensitivity, promoting fat burning. It can also help regulate hunger hormones, making it easier to control food intake during eating windows [10].

Hormonal Evaluation

If weight loss stalls, visit a doctor for a medical checkup and look for thyroid issues, sex hormones, and cortisol imbalances, which can significantly affect metabolism and weight. If you have any imbalances in these hormones, resolving them can boost your weight loss [11].

Dietary Strategies

Going on a Carnivore diet and consuming meat, eggs, seafood, and full-fat dairy, excluding plant foods, grains, and sugars helps hormone balance and weight loss. A low-carb diet can help reduce insulin levels, promoting fat burning. It also supports ghrelin and leptin, which regulate hunger and satiety. By eliminating sugars and grains, blood sugar levels are more stable, reducing cravings and overeating [12].

So, the Carnivore diet can help you lose overall weight and belly fat. But there are myths about fat loss we need to uncover.

Will I Lose Belly Fat on a Carnivore Diet?

Yes, you will lose belly fat on a Carnivore diet, but we should first uncover some myths about spot reduction and overall fat loss.

• Myth 1: Targeted exercise burns fat in specific areas: Exercises targeting certain muscles can strengthen those muscles, but they don't necessarily lead to significant fat loss as fat loss occurs throughout the body.
• Myth 2: Ab exercises alone will give you a flat stomach: While ab exercises can strengthen your core muscles, they won't magically melt away belly fat. You need a healthy diet and calorie deficit to reduce body fat, including belly fat.
• Myth 3: Sweating more means more fat loss: Sweating is not directly linked to fat loss. By sweating, the body tries to regulate temperature, which isn’t necessarily a sign of calorie burn or fat loss.
• Myth 4: Wearing sauna belts or wraps reduces fat: Sauna belts or wraps can lead to temporary water weight loss through sweating, but it’s not sustainable, and you’ll regain weight once you rehydrate.
• Myth 5: You can choose where to lose fat: Genetics are essential in determining where your body stores and loses fat. We can’t choose where to lose fat, as it's a process influenced by genetics, hormones, and overall calorie balance.
• Myth 6: High-rep, low-weight training burns fat locally: While such exercises can increase overall calorie expenditure, they don't necessarily target fat loss in certain areas.

Myths aside, if you think you must burn the fat you can pinch and feel in your belly, keep reading because that’s not the fat we need to get rid of.

There are two main types of belly fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat.

• Subcutaneous fat is located between the skin and the underlying muscle tissue. It is the fat you can pinch and feel, which usually has a soft and squishy texture, with various functions, including providing insulation, regulating body temperature, and storing energy. It also produces a protein hormone (adiponectin), which is essential in insulin sensitivity and reducing inflammation [13].
• Visceral fat lies deeper in the abdominal cavity, surrounding internal organs like the liver, pancreas, and intestines. You can’t see visceral fat from the outside, and it gives the abdomen a firm and bulging appearance.

While visceral fat can protect the internal organs, excessive amounts of it can cause health risks, including the following:

• Negatively impacting metabolism: Visceral fat is metabolically active and can release free fatty acids, hormones, and inflammatory cytokines into the bloodstream, which can negatively impact metabolism [14].
• Damaging insulin resistance: Too much visceral fat can damage insulin resistance, i.e., it can make the body's cells less responsive to insulin, which can raise blood sugar levels and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes [15].
• Cardiovascular risks: Visceral fat can multiply the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and hypertension [16].
• Inflammation: Excess visceral fat can cause chronic inflammation, leading to various health problems, including inflammatory conditions and atherosclerosis.
• Hormonal changes: Visceral fat can disrupt the hormonal balance and interfere with appetite regulation and energy balance.

So, how can we get rid of this dangerous fat surrounding our organs? The great news, according to Dr. Sean O’Mara, is that you can burn visceral fat by avoiding carbohydrates and processed foods and focusing on consuming meat, which is the foundation of the Carnivore diet.

You can watch Coach Rina's interview with Dr. Sean O’Mara to learn more.

Another factor that can affect weight loss results is the portions and the amount of food we consume at each meal.

How Much to Eat on a Carnivore Diet to Lose Weight?

Deciding on meal portions is highly personal and depends on your current weight, health status, metabolic rate, meal preferences, medications, weight loss goals, and activity level. Considering the following points can help you decide the right amount.

• Calculate Your Basal Metabolic Rate: BMR is the number of calories your body needs to maintain basic functions at rest. You can use an online calculator to estimate your BMR based on factors like age, gender, weight, and height.
• Factor in Activity Level: Once you know your BMR, you need to adjust it based on your activity level. If you have a sedentary lifestyle, multiply your BMR by a low activity factor (1.2-1.3). For moderate activity levels, use a moderate factor (1.4-1.6). For high activity levels, use a higher factor (1.7-2.0).
• Determine Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE): Multiply your BMR by your activity factor to find your TDEE, which represents the total number of calories you need per day to maintain your current weight.
• Create a Calorie Deficit: To lose weight, you'll need to consume fewer calories than your TDEE. A safe and sustainable rate of weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week, which requires a calorie deficit of about 500-1000 calories per day.
• Consider Quality of Food: While calorie intake is important for weight loss, the quality of the food you eat also matters. Focus on nutrient-dense, whole foods like meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products to ensure you're meeting your nutritional needs while losing weight.

So, if we start the Carnivore diet to avoid carbohydrates and consume animal-based products, how soon can we see the weight loss results?

How Soon Do You See Results on a Carnivore Diet?

Each body responds differently to changes and personal factors, including adherence to the diet, activity level, metabolic rate, health status, and starting weight, influence the results and how soon you can reach them.

But generally, your body needs some time to adapt, i.e., to regulate hormones like leptin, ghrelin, and cortisol and help your body induce and maintain ketosis.

As Dr. Sean O’Mara pointed out, you can start to see the results after two weeks into the Carnivore diet, and the progress can continue until you reach your desired outcome. Generally, it can take 2-4 weeks for some individuals to see the results, and for others, 3-6 weeks or more.

So, how much weight can we lose during this period on the Carnivore diet?

Learn More: The Carnivore Diet and Skin: How Can Carnivore Improve Skin Health?

How Much Weight Can I Lose on a Carnivore Diet?

You cannot compare your results with others as each individual’s starting weight,

metabolic rate, activity level, caloric intake, response to dietary changes, adherence to the diet, hormonal performance, and water retention are different.

But personal reports show that Carnivores could lose 7kg (15.4 pounds) in 30 days, 121 lbs in 12 months, and so on. Generally, aiming to lose between 0.5 – 0.75% of your starting body weight can be realistic.

If you want to lose 0.5% of your body weight weekly, multiply your starting weight by 0.005 to determine your weekly weight loss goal. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, the goal would be to lose around 1 pound per week (200 * 0.005 = 1).

So, as you start a Carnivore diet to lose the amount of weight you desire, your body goes through some changes. Let’s find out what happens in our body within 30 days of going on a Carnivore diet.

Learn More: Suet vs. Tallow: How Do These Dietary Fat Resources Differ?

What Else Happens to Your Body along with Weight Loss on Carnivore?

Knowing what happens to your body during a month on a Carnivore diet can help you understand what’s normal and what’s not and overcome the possible challenges more easily.

You may experience these changes sooner or later than mentioned here, as individual differences significantly affect the results.

Week 1-2

• Initial weight loss: The initial weight loss experienced during the first or second week is mainly the result of water weight loss and carb reduction.
• Metabolic changes: Your metabolic rate starts to speed up, and you may start experiencing increased energy levels and improved mental clarity, which result from stable blood sugar levels and ketosis.
• Hunger and cravings: You may experience decreased hunger and sugar cravings, which helps maintain a caloric deficit.
• Cravings for non-carnivorous foods: You may crave the high-carb foods you used to eat. You can gradually reduce non-carnivore foods. Also, you may feel hungrier at first and overeat. Try eating until you're satisfied and consuming nutrient-dense foods, including fatty cuts of meat, which help control hunger and provide sustained energy. You can also join our Carnivore community to learn from our Carnivore doctors and nutritionists to help with side effects, cravings, and any questions you may have.
• Carb withdrawal symptoms: Avoiding carbs can cause fatigue, headaches, and irritability as your body adjusts to a lower carbohydrate intake. Try drinking enough water, increasing your salt intake, and being patient. These symptoms often improve after the initial adjustment period.
• Electrolyte imbalance: Minimizing carbohydrates can imbalance electrolytes. Increasing salt intake and consuming magnesium and potassium-rich foods or supplements can help.

Week 3-4

• Stabilized appetite: Your appetite starts normalizing during the third week, facilitating portion control.
• Better sleep: Stabilized blood sugar levels and reduced inflammation can improve sleep quality, which positively affects our energy levels. High energy levels, together with satiety, support appetite control, which helps create a caloric deficit.
• Changes in the body composition: You may start experiencing water weight loss (due to reduced water retention caused by lower carbohydrate intake and lower calorie consumption), fat loss, improved muscle definition, reduced bloating (for eliminating plant foods), and muscle gain (for consuming enough protein and exercising).

Although these are the most common weight loss changes that occur during the first month of the Carnivore diet, some may experience no weight loss during or after this period. Let’s see why this can happen.

Why Am I Not Losing Weight on the Carnivore Diet?

There are many reasons for not losing weight on the Carnivore diet. If you’re not losing weight, you may be caught up in a plateau.

A plateau is a period where your progress levels off or slows down. While plateaus can be frustrating, they are a natural part of many dietary and fitness journeys.

Plateaus can occur for various reasons, including

• Body adaptation to dietary changes,
• Metabolic factors and hormones
• Food quality,
• Lack of exercise,
• Insufficient protein intake,
• Stress and sleep,
• Digestive issues,
• Medical conditions,
• Psychological factors, and
• Consuming too many calories.

Let’s explore each of these obstacles and ways to overcome them.

Adaptation Period

During the initial weeks of a Carnivore diet, the body undergoes significant adaptations, such as adjusting to lower carbohydrate intake. Weight loss might be more rapid at first due to reduced water weight, but as the body adapts, the rate of weight loss can slow down.

So, don’t consider this a problem, as your body only tries to adapt. You just need to stay patient and let your body lose weight at its own pace.

Metabolic Factors and Hormones

Some individuals have naturally slower metabolisms. The metabolic rate may also decrease due to calorie restriction. Additionally, hormonal issues like thyroid disorders can impact metabolism and weight loss. Controlling thyroid function can help regulate metabolism.

Food Quality

Fatty cuts of meat contain more calories, but leaner protein sources contain fewer calories. Also, processed meats include additives that can negatively affect weight loss. Consuming whole, unprocessed cuts of meat is healthier and better for weight loss.

Lack of Physical Activity

If you don’t have enough physical activity, you may not burn calories and lose weight as much as you like. Your calorie expenditure must be more than your calorie intake so you can burn calories and lose weight.

So, consider daily exercise as a part of your weight loss plan.

Insufficient Protein Intake

You need to consume adequate protein to maintain muscles and support overall health. You don’t want to lose muscles together with fat. If protein intake is too low, it may affect muscle mass and metabolic rate, which can lead to a plateau. Use this free Carnivore diet macro calculator to find the right amount of protein you need to reach your weight loss goals.

Stress and Sleep

High stress levels can influence hormones like cortisol, which may negatively impact weight loss and body composition. Meditation or yoga can help reduce stress. Also, lack of sleep can interfere with weight loss efforts. You generally need 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night.

Digestive Issues

Digestive issues like inadequate stomach acid production, inadequate enzyme production, electrolyte imbalance, food sensitivities, and bacterial imbalances can hinder nutrient absorption and weight loss.

Consulting a healthcare professional can help with these issues.

Medical Conditions

Medical conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) or insulin resistance can disrupt weight loss efforts. Healthcare professionals can help you with these conditions.

Psychological Factors

Emotional disorders can influence eating habits, causing overeating. Consulting a psychologist or nutritionist can help.

Caloric Intake

You may eat big portions and consume too many calories. Be cautious of added fats and calories in cooking oils, sauces, and dairy products.

You must monitor portion sizes, control your overall caloric intake, and create a caloric deficit to lose weight.

When we speak about too many calories, some may think they need to count calories in every food they eat. Should we do so on a Carnivore diet? Well, you don’t!

Do I Need to Count Calories on a Meat-Only Diet?

As Professor Bart Kay describes in the interview on top of this page, you don't need to count calories. Calories are arbitrary units of energy and do not correlate exactly to our human bodies.

Instead of counting calories, focus on eating meat, salt, and water, and reduce your meal frequency to an OMAD (one meal a day) or 2MAD (2 meals a day) to reach your optimal weight.

The fasting window in OMAD and 2MAD allows your body to digest all the food and use your body's stored fat as energy.

When we talk about focusing on meat, you may think that if you’re following a diet with a similar focus on meat, like Keto, you don’t need to try the Carnivore diet for weight loss. Think again because the Carnivore diet offers what the Keto diet offers but in a simpler way. Let’s compare them and see!

Learn More: Carnivore and OMAD Diet | Results In 2 Weeks!

Is Carnivore Better than Keto for Weight Loss?

The Carnivore and Keto diets are similar in nature as they both try to induce ketosis by reducing carbohydrates and increasing fat and protein, which results in weight loss.

But, the Carnivore diet is more targeted toward this aim as it tries to minimize or avoid carbohydrates by eliminating plant-based foods and focusing on simplicity. The following table helps you compare them in different aspects.

So, if you are considering starting the Carnivore diet to lose weight, following the tips below can help you boost your weight loss results.

Tips to Boost Weight Loss in a Carnivore Diet

• Consume more protein. You can use this free Ideal Weight Calculator to determine how much protein you need to reach your ideal weight.
• Try intermittent fasting.
• Join this 4-week Carnivore fat loss course for personalized guidance about your weight loss process.
• Eat mindfully and avoid emotional eating. Drink plenty of water to control appetite.
• Balance protein and fat. You can use this free Carnivore diet macro calculator to learn the proper amount of macros.
• Exercise regularly to improve weight loss results and general health. Resistance training can also help maintain muscle mass.

The Bottom Line

All in all, you can lose weight on a Carnivore diet if you stick to the rules, plan based on your needs, and set realistic goals. Also, staying motivated during the weight loss journey is essential.

Starting a Carnivore lifestyle for weight loss can be very confusing. Join the 30-day fat loss program in our Carnivore community to get simple meal plans every week, target weight loss, and learn from our Carnivore coaches who have lost over 200 lbs.